Client server computer networks typically require that the client and the server establish communications according to some set of preestablished rules. These rules are referred to as communications protocols. Such protocols may be predefined such that every client node uses the same communications protocol as the server node. Alternatively, the server may keep a record of the communications protocol used by each client and use that protocol to communicate with the client when the client sends a request to communicate with the application on the server.
A problem associated with such communications methods is that either the protocol may be too rigidly defined for applications which do not need all the functionality being required, or that the client protocol must be known to the server prior to the client being able to communicate with the server. The present invention seeks to avoid both the rigidity of a predefined protocol and the necessity of precontact knowledge on the part of the server.